I always thought Marx saw recessions as endemic to capitalist growth wherein crisis are the norm and central to the process of capital accumulation. Was the Great Depression fatal to capitalism? No. But it sure was fatal to many, many people. Crises are human induced phenomenon and can be ameliorated or displaced in many ways (new deal, Asian financial crisis etc). The problem is that policies surrounding crises are always prioritized around the interests of the wealthy to the detriment of the rest.
To ask why people make a fuss about recessions is to ignore their human impact (job loss, despair, anger, hunger, frustration etc) of what is essentially a human induced and controlled phenomenon that is often passed off as a mere abstraction or a "natural" phenomenon. Jayson Funke Graduate School of Geography Clark University 950 Main Street Worcester, MA 01610 -----Original Message----- From: PEN-L list [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Michael Perelman Sent: Friday, January 11, 2008 10:52 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [PEN-L] Query on Recessions I believe that your first question is correct. According to Marx, recession/depressions shock the system, generally making it stronger, but when then contradictions become too extreme, then even a small shock can be fatal. On Fri, Jan 11, 2008 at 09:37:34PM -0600, Carrol Cox wrote: > Is it not correct that fairly frequent recessions are a necessity of the > capitalist system? And certainly, in practice, they have been happening > every five to ten years for a couple of centuries. > > But both on this list and in the financial columns of the media everyone > is fussing about whether or not a recession is coming. Why so much fuss? > Of course one is coming before too long. > > Is there so much fuss because quite a few people think something _worse_ > than even a severe recession may be coming? > > Carrol -- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University Chico, CA 95929 Tel. 530-898-5321 E-Mail michael at ecst.csuchico.edu michaelperelman.wordpress.com
